Coca-Cola, not only produce one of the world’s favorite cold-drinks, they have now agreed to spearhead a clean up operation in KwaZulu-Natal. Following the heavy rains and flooding in that area a concerned citizen wrote a letter regarding the plastic waste spilling into the oceans and rivers. Read the letter, and well done to all the caring citizens.
Dear Coca-Cola South Africa, as you are no doubt aware we have had some serious rain and flooding in KwaZulu-Natal, besides the loss of lives, damage to homes, schools and roads we have also seen our rivers spilling huge amounts of plastic waste into our oceans. A lot of this waste is actually your empty bottles.
Much of this plastic waste will end up far out at sea where it takes hundreds of years to decompose, if its not consumed by marine animals, either way this is bad for our planet and your brand.
Now, there is some good news, as I write this, a large amount of this plastic is washing up on our beaches, it will eventually get washed back to sea but this does give us a short window to cleanup.
Local municipalities have insufficient resource to deal with this quickly and effectively, any chance Coca Cola can muck in and help us clean up their bottles, you would be setting a great example for the rest of big business.
UPDATE: to clarify, I DO NOT blame Coke for this litter, short term I am asking them to assist in cleaning up our beaches, medium to long term I am asking them to put top of their corporate responsibility: recycle initiatives, education around recycling and the development of environmentally friendly packaging and maybe even to create employment opportunities around recycling and waste collection.
South Africa Today – South Africa News
